Electrical connector captivated terminal release tool



Feb. 20, 1968 J. Fv KELLY ET AL 3,370,264

ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR CAPTIVATED TERMINAL RELEASE TOOL Filed July 1, 1966 v [NvE/vroes:

PV/ZL/AM R. 7ZIOMA7$ JOSEPH [-(KELLY firraen/fij 3,370,264 ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR CAPTIVATED TERMINAL RELEASE TOOL Joseph F. Kelly, Huntsville, Ala., and William R. Thomas,

Phoenix, Ariz., assignors to International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of Maryland Filed July 1, 1966, Ser. No. 562,372 3 Claims. (Cl. 339217) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The disclosure is drawn to a combination connector and tool. The tool is permanently attached to the connector, but slidable thereon. The connector is a pin type connector which has two axially spaced shoulders. A cylindrical sleeve is slidable axially on the pin between the shoulders. One shoulder fits between a leaf spring tang in an insulator body opening and insulator flange. The sleeve is, therefore, slidable into the insulator body to disengage the leaf spring tang so that the connector may be removed from the insulator. Acting as a special feature of the invention, a cantilever type leaf spring is provided at one end of the sleeve to hook in front of or behind one shoulder to hold the sleeve in a position such that it will not disengage the spring tang.

This invention relates to electrical connectors of the type having contact terminals removable from the rear of an insulation body, and more specifically to an improved tool for releasing one or more terminals from the insulation body.

In US. Patent No. 3,158,424, R. Bowen, assigned to the same assignee as the present invention, there is disclosed an electrical connector structure employing contact terminals which are inserted into a bore of an insulation block from the rear face thereof and locked in the bore against axial movement in either direction, and removable by manipulation entirely rearwardly of the insulation block. Clearance is provided between the contact terminal and the locking element for insertion of a suitable tool from the rear surface of the insulation block to depress the locking element into a non-locking position, whereupon the contact terminal may be withdrawn rearwardly along with the tool. US. Patent No. 3,110,093, G. Johnson, also assigned to the same assignee as the present invention, discloses a tubular tool for releasing such contacts which slips over a wire attached to the contact and is moved axially around the contact to release the contact from the retaining clip. While such tool has performed admirably and has been an outstanding commercial success, it is limited in application to situations in which the tool can he slipped onto the wire and there is adequate space between the wire and the bore walls surrounding the contact to permit the tool to be axially moved onto the terminal.

There are certain electrical conductor assemblies which incorporate so-called bussed contacts wherein a plurality of contact terminals are joined at their rear to a common conductor termination device to be connected to a single lead wire or cable. With such an arrangement it will be appreciated that a tool of the type disclosed in the above referenced Johnson patent cannot he slipped over the wire and then moved forwardly into the insulation bore to release the contact terminal since the common connection between the terminals would prevent such action.

Accordingly, it is a primary object of this invention to provide a tool for removing electrical terminals from connectors of the above described type.

3,370,264 Patented Feb. 20, 1968 It is a further object of this invention to provide an electrical connector of the type having a plurality of terminals joined at their rear portions to a single conductor with an improved low-cost, captivated tool for removing the terminals from an insulation body in the connector.

As explained, the tool of the invention is adapted for use with an electrical connector of the type having a plurality of contact terminals which are inserted from the rear of the insulation body into a bore for each terminal wherein the terminals are retained by a flexible retention element. The terminals are joined at their rear portions to a common conducting member which in turn is connected to a single wire conductor. The tool of the invention is formed of flexible insulating material and has a forward tubular portion having a longitudinal slit therein for mounting the tool onto the rear of a terminal. The tool is slidable forwardly into an annular space between the terminal and the surrounding bore to release the retention means permitting the terminal to be Withdrawn. A portion of the tool formed integral with the tubular forward portion extends rearwardly to a point adjacent the rear portion of the terminal which is adjoined to an adjacent terminal. A latch portion formed integral with the rear of the tool extends radially inwardly to engage a rearwardly facing shoulder formed on the portion of the terminal which is joined to the adjacent terminal. When in this position, the tool is prevented from being moved forwardly to release the terminal from the insulation block. The flexibility of the release tool permits it to be easily moved from the latched and unlatched position. Each individual terminal may be provided with a separate tool or a plurality of the tools may be joined at their rear portions so that a plurality of terminals may be latched and unlatched as a unit.

Further features, objects and attendant advantages will become apparent with reference to the following description and drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view, partially sectionalized, showing the combined connector and tool of the invention with the tool locked in its inoperative position;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational, partially sectionalized view of the structure in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a showing of the structure of FIG. 2 with the release tool in operative position; and

FIG. 4 is a top plan, partially sectionalized view of the tool in FIG. 3.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown a connector structure including an insulation block 10 formed of a front section 1011 and a rear section 10b with a bore 12 extending therethrough from the front face 10a to the rear face 10d of the insulation block. As shown, a retaining element 14 is mounted within the insulation block with the forward edge of the retaining element engaging a shoulder 10e formed by insulation section 10a and the rearward edge of the retaining element engaging a shoulder 10f formed in the rearward insulation section 1012. Each of the retaining elements 14 is formed with one or more inwardly extending flexible fingers 14a adapted to retain a terminal 16 within the bore 12. The terminal 16 is inserted into the insulation block 10 through the rear face 1% and moved forwardly forcing flexible fingers 14a outwardly until the forward face of the outwardly extending flange 16:: engages the shoulder 102. At this point, the flexible fingers 14a snap inwardly to engage the rear surface of the flange 1611 thereby retaining the terminal within the insulation block. Each terminal 16 illustrated may be similarly retained by a retaining element 14.

Each of the terminals 16 are joined at their rear portions to a common conducting member or busbar .18. The forward portion of .the conducting member 18 is formed with an outwardly extending flange 18a which defines a rearwardly facing shoulder 18b and the rear portion is formed with a socket 19 adapted to receive a conducting lead wire 20. Connector terminals which are joined in this fashion to a common conduct-or are known as bussed contacts or terminals and are conveniently employed in a wide variety of applications when a plurality of terminals are to be joined to a common conducting wire.

In a more conventional arrangement wherein a single terminal is connected to a single conducting wire, the usual manner by which a terminal is released from the connector insulation body is to insert a tubular tool having a longitudinal split onto the wire and then slide the tool forwardly into the bore surrounding the terminal to force the flexible fingers 14a of the retention member 14 outwardly to thereby allow the terminal along with the tool to be withdrawn rearwardly from the insulation block. Such a contact or terminal retention means and the tool for removing the terminal are disclosed in the above referenced patents. However, it can readily be seen that the existence of the enlarged conducting wire 20 and the common busbar 18 prevents the employment of such a contact removal tool.

In accordance with the invention, there is provided an unique tool 24 which is captivated on the connector for releasing bussed contacts of this nature. In the drawing, the tool illustrated is formed with a pair of legs and hence is adapted to accommodate a pair of terminals, however, it should be understood that the tool may be adapted to accommodate more or less than two individual terminals.

As can be seen, the tool 24 is formed with a pair of forwardly extending tubular leg portions 26 each adapted to receive a respective one of the terminals 16. The forward tubular portions are formed with a diameter slightly smaller than the diameter of the terminals 16 and the tubular. portion is formed with a longitudinal slit 26a whereby a snug fit between the tubular portions and the terminals is insured. The thin rearward portion 28 of the tool 24 extends in roughly parallel relation to the forward tubular portion 26 and is joined thereto by a thin intermediate portion 30, which may be offset radially outwardly in certain applications. The rearward portion 28 is shown as a flat section which tapers from a width approximately equal to the two tubular portions 26 to a somewhat smaller width at its rear edge. To provide rigidity to the rearward section 28, it may be formed with a pair of stiffener ribs 28a.

In accordance with the invention, the rear edge of the rearward portion 28 is formed with an inwardly extending latching member 32 which as seen in FIG. 1 engages the rear surface 18b of flange 18a on connecting conducting member 18. As indicated by dot-ted lines in FIG. 2, the flexibility of the tool permits the latch member 32 to be moved radially outwardly about an axis approximately through section 30. Thus, the tool 24 may be released from this latched position by lifting the latch member 32 radially outwardly and then sliding the tool forwardly to the position shown in FIG. 3 wherein the flexible fingers 14a of retenion element 14 are forced outwardly to release the terminal 16. The tool is preferably formed of flexible insulation material such as one of various forms of plastic which is axially rigid, but is circumferentially and radially flexible so that the latch member may be easily moved into and out of engagement with the latching flange 1811. It will be understood that each of the terminals 16 on a given connector structure may be provided with a release tool so that all terminals may be released from the insulation block thereby permitting 4 the connector to be withdrawn from the insulation block.

Thus, it will be appreciated that a simple, low-cost terminal release tool for terminals connected to a common conductor has been provided. While basically only a single embodiment of the invention has been illustrated, it will be understood that various changes and modifications will readily come to a persons mind in the light of the foregoing description. For example, instead of having a flange 18:: formed on conductor member 18, a groove or slot may be formed in member 18 to define a shoulder which the latch may engage. Similarly, various other changes could be made to the latching means employed while still retaining the principle of utilizing a radially flexible tool which engages a portion of a common conductor joining so-called bussed terminals while in a latched or storage position Accordingly, it is intended that all such variations and modifications that fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention be included in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a connector body having an opening therein and a detent means fixed relative to the wall. of said opening and normally biased toward the center of said opening, said body having a flange axially spaced from said detent means, the combination comprising: a connecting pin having two axially spaced shoulders fixed thereto, one of said shoulders being adapted to deflect said detent means and to snap fit into the space between said detent means and said flange; and a sleeve slidable axially on said pin between said shoulders; said pin being slidable through said opening, said sleeve also being slidable through said opening to release said detent means, said sleeve inside diameter being smaller than the outside diameters of i said shoulders.

2. The invention as definedin claim 1, wherein said sleeve has a leaf extending toward the other shoulder, said leaf having means for attachment to the other shoulder to hold said sleeve out of engagement with said detent means.

3. The invention as defined in claim 2, wherein said pin has an outer'cylindrical surface at least between said shoulders, said sleeve having cylindrical internal and external surfaces, said leaf being a cantilever supported leaf spring having an inward radially extending hook at its outer unsupported end, said leaf spring being movable to allow said hook to lie on either side of said other shoulder.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 975,090 11/1910 Wappler 33958 1,874,334 8/1932 Nero 339 1,933,506 10/1933 Noyes 339108 2,419,018 4/1947 Gudie 339217 3,158,424 11/1964 Bowen 339-'217 3,189,868 6/1965 Hatfield 339217 2,399,133 4/1946 Midling 339253 FOREIGN PATENTS 924,461 3/ 1955 Germany.

OTHER REFERENCES Aviation Week, Sept. 17, 1962 (p. 13) Cannons Little Caesar.

MARVIN A. CHAMPION, Primary Examiner.

R. S. STROBEL, Assistant Examiner. 

